USA July 2026: Sales down -1.4%, Honda (+12.3%), Acura (+18.9%) stand out

The Honda CR-V remains well above its archenemy the Toyota RAV4.

The U.S. new light vehicle market falls slightly in July at -1.4% year-on-year to 1.38 million units according to preliminary figures by GlobalData. Sales are hampered by a relatively strong year-ago result when customers rushed to dealerships to purchase EVs before the expiry of federal incentives. However strong hybrid sales in a high fuel prices context levelled the field somewhat. Year-to-date sales are estimated to drop -2.7% by GlobalData.

The July SAAR stands at 16.51 million according to Motor Intelligence, down from 16.67 million in June and 16.72 million in July 2025. July marks the fifth month in a row of SAAR above 16 million, a feat that hadn’t happened in over 5 years. Average incentives reached 6.7% percent of the suggested retail price, up from 6.3% in July 2025 according to JD Power and GlobalData. The average transaction price continues to climb at +1.2% to $45,369 units. The BEV market share is at 7% vs. 10.9% in July 2025. In contrast hybrid share is expected to rise 2.5 percentage points year-on-year to 15.9%, still according to JD Power and GlobalData.

Among OEMs still reporting monthly data, American Honda (+12.8%) fares best with a splendid double-digit gains, with Hyundai-Kia (+5%) also defying the market’s slump. Toyota Motor (-0.8%) is stable but Ford Motor (-10.3%) struggles and has now registered year-on-year losses for each month this year. This is the same situation for the Ford brand (-9.2%). Toyota (-0.3%) still leads the brands charts with Honda (+12.3%) impressive. Honda hybrid sales are up 15% to almost 30% share, with the Accord hybrid up 29% and the CR-V hybrid up 18%. Hyundai (+3.7%) and Kia (+6.7%) both post July records and both in positive for the third month in a row. Hybrid Hyundai sales are up 35% while Kia hybrids surge 108%. Acura (+18.9%) delivers a fantastic month while Genesis (+3.9%) is up year-on-year for a staggering 22nd straight month. 

Looking at models with available monthly sales data, the Ford F-Series (-6.5%) is down once again, still impacted from the Novelis aluminium plant disruption following a fire. Strikingly the Honda CR-V (+18.8%) surges ahead, leaving the Toyota RAV4 (-21.3%) in the dust and increases its year-to-date advantage to a seemingly unsurmountable 79,209 sales. Illustrating the new trend towards more efficient cars, the Toyota Camry is up 17.2%, Honda Civic up 20.7%, Toyota Corolla up 12.9%. Honda Accord up 54.7% and Hyundai Elantra up 38.5%. As for crossovers, the Subaru Forester (+33.5%), Hyundai Tucson (+20.2%) and Kia Seltos (+79.1%) stand out. Notice also the Ford Maverick up 29.1%.

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Full July 2026 data for selected OEMs, brands and models below.